New bridging and development lender enters market

While it is under restrictions, StreamBank is concentrating its offering on specialist property finance markets such as bridging, development finance and commercial mortgages, and later plans to offer a range of retail deposit products.

Born out of the Activtrades Bridging business, StreamBank is seeking to expand its presence by adding business development resources to establish a wider broker network.

Over the next few months and in preparation for its full banking licence, StreamBank intends to build out its proposition to offer:

• Short-term property loans of between £250,000 - £5m to support property professionals, developers, entrepreneurs and landlords.
• Regulated bridging finance options for customers who want to use their residential property as security to raise funds.
• Non-regulated bridging products for experienced property investors who want to extend or improve their portfolio.
• Development finance products for ground up developments and heavy refurbishment projects.
• Commercial mortgages for investing in new premises or to refinance existing properties or portfolios.

Steve Pateman, CEO of StreamBank, said: “We are delighted to have gained the confidence of the regulator and receive our banking licence with restrictions.

"Over the last 12 months, through the hard work of all the team, we have successfully built a bank that combines the efficiency of modern technology with traditional banking judgement, enabling us to support the needs of property professionals up and down the country.

"Property investors far too often find it difficult to work with a lender that talks their language and understands their needs which leads them to miss out on good opportunities. Creating a bank that uses experience and judgment and a desire to find a solution will help property investors build much needed homes and spaces that drive economic prosperity.”

John Reed, chairman of StreamBank, commented: “Property investors with complex transactions are often left behind by mainstream banks and even some specialist lenders, as they focus on more vanilla automated lending. A significant proportion of borrowers miss out on sound opportunities that are only turned away because of the complexity of the transaction rather than the credit profile. StreamBank has been built from the ground up helping property investors take advantage of those opportunities and in turn help the housing shortage across the country.

"A special thanks need to go the team, past and present, for their dedication and hard work in allowing us to obtain our provisional banking licence. I believe we are strongly placed to make a real impact in the property market and in a short period of time we will look to attain our full licence and expand our offering in adjacent markets and to personal savers.”